Dolls, Fibre Scultpures and Costumes

Posts tagged ‘maxine noel’

I am still packing. Yesterday and today I have been going through my books and deciding what goes and what doesn’t go. We won’t talk about the box of old mysteries that are my “I can’t sleep” reading. Agatha Christie is non- negotiable, so is Patricia Wentworth. What I have been putting in and out of the box is my inspiration books. One is definitely in the box, “The Goddess and Gods of Old Europe” by Marija Gimbutas. This is a book I have owned since it came out in 1982. There are stunning photos of pots, sculptures and other objects from old Europe that I have used for inspiration ever since. My first award winning costume was based on images from this book.

This is from Costume Con 1987.

So this book is packed. So are the books on anatomy and fabric manipulation. Then there are books on various ethnic cultures. The better ones are packed.

The ones that went in and out and back in are coffee table photo books. Like “A Year in Figure Skating”, and books on Elvis Costello, Rudolf Nureyev, Baryshnikov. These have BODIES, especially male bodies, in them, in amazing poses, but some of the older ones are just too fuzzy or badly printed. So Baryshnikov is back on the shelf, I need to see the muscles, the pictures are pretty but not useful.

The same for the David Hamilton books, pretty, pretty but so fuzzy and romanticized that they are more a spring board then any use for the “how does that arm …” . They are good inspiration if you are doing Victorian erotic fairies though. So they went to a friend who is into photography and appreciates the technical style. Really, for the styles and techniques and the prose, really. Ok if you believe that maybe I can sell you a bridge?

My inspirational art is mostly packed too. I have a lot of prints by Ioyan Mani (Maxine Noel )I love the colours and the flow of her work. Just looking at her work makes me feel calm and centered so most of it hangs in my bedroom. My bedroom looks kind of barren now.